Craigslist has been an incredible source of leads and revenue for car dealers, but doing business with the site hasn’t come without peril.  There are a multitude of posting issues: over-posting, posting too quickly, listings get flagged, accounts get banned, certain computers get blocked, entire dealerships get banned from posting… and the list goes on and on. The bottom line is that Craigslist was not created for commercialization, but instead as a community service – so they have absolutely no desire to cater to businesses using their website.

So how do you conduct regular business on Craigslist?  I’ve unpacked the top ten Frequently Asked Questions about Craigslist from our dealers to help you make Craigslist a successful part of your marketing efforts (and ideally, drastically increase your sales).

1. How come I can post from home, but not from my dealership?

Craigslist has either blocked your IP address or you MAC address.  An IP Address is a numerical label assigned to any network device (a computer or network router, for example) and is used for communication on the Internet.  Generally speaking, every computer inside your dealership network goes out to the Internet with the same external IP Address.  If your IP address has been blocked, then any computer using that IP address will be unable to post to Craigslist.

A MAC address is a unique identifier assigned to your computer for communication on a network.  If your MAC Address has been blocked, then that specific computer is banned from Craigslist.  The monitoring technology used by Craigslist can detect abuse and block either (or both) options.

2. I could post earlier today, but now I can’t post. Why?

Craigslist issues temporary bans on accounts without notice.  They don’t send you an email or call you, you’ll just suddenly wonder why you can’t post listings.  In many cases, this is brought on by over-posting or posting too frequently.

3. Why aren’t my listings showing up on Craigslist?

In most cases, Craigslist will take 15 to 20 minutes to add a new listing to the site.  If your listings don’t appear after 20 minutes, then something is going on.  They’ve probably placed a temporary ban on your account, but they continue to let you post on the site.  Our recommendation is to take a break from listing today and try again tomorrow.

4. I’ve been banned from Craigslist.  How can I continue listing on the site?

Assuming you have been banned in every way (IP Address, MAC Address, Craigslist account, and duplicate content), you will need to create a new Craigslist account with a new email address and then post from a different location (a different computer on a different network).

5. Can I post my cars directly to the site without a template?

Yes.  In fact, it is a good practice to vary your listings so you don’t get flagged for “duplicate listings”.  After logging in, simply click the “post to classifieds” link and follow the wizard.  It is a bit more work to copy and paste content and then upload photos, but it’s well worth the diversification of listing templates.

6. How can I post to multiple cities on Craigslist?

We get this question all the time from dealers, but even still, we do not recommend this strategy.  The best strategy is to post in your specific (or nearest) city and play within the policies of Craigslist.  If you want to try to beat the system and try multi-city posting, then you’ll need to use a unique email address for each account.  Make sure that each account is always tied to the specific email address associated with it.  You’ll also be better off posting to each city from different IP addresses.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Multi-city posting is the fastest way to get banned from Craigslist.  They DO record the location of your IP Address for each post, so eventually they will detect the over-posting.  It’s like playing a clam shell game – you might get lucky a few times, but in the end, you’ll lose.

7. Why are my listings getting flagged?

Several conditions can contribute to your listings getting flagged, but the two main contributors are most likely other community members flagging your listings (because they’re trying to keep companies off the “community” website) OR a competitor is probably flagging of your listings to reduce competiton.  Best practices to avoid flagged listings: do not post the same vehicle twice in less than 7 days, randomize your posting template, and don’t post 100% of your inventory every day.  Your best option is to post less than 15% of your inventory each day, with no more than 10 cars posted daily.

8. How does Craigslist know what city I’m in?

Whenever you post, Craiglist records your IP address.  Your IP address can provide the geolocation of your network.  Now that Craigslist knows your geolocation information, it can serve up the nearest city and know pretty accurately where you’re located.  Don’t believe me? Go to www.whatismyipaddress.com and see for yourself.

9. Who can I call at Craigslist to talk about my issues?

Nobody! Amazingly enough, there aren’t any service agents for you to speak with.  Earlier this year, I tried calling the phone number listed on their WHOIS information for craigslist.org.  After navigating the auto attendant for an hour, I finally got a billing person on the phone, who then sent me to “some guy” who told me exactly “we have less than 30 people working here and don’t have time for this phone call. –click.”  True story.

10.Is there a better time of day to post?

No one has reliable data to show that certain times of day are better to post.  Prior to the April 22, 2011 changes made by Craigslist, much of the monitoring of the site was manual or done by the community.  The theory was that posting earlier in the morning was advantageous, because most of the site police volunteers were on the west coast.  As of the update on April 22, we now believe that many of the monitoring and security measures have been automated, so posting at certain times to avoid manual detection is no longer relevant. Our recommendation is to diversify your listing times (morning, afternoon, and night).

I can sum up all of these issues with one question: “Why is it so difficult to work with Craigslist?”  The answer: Craigslist is an online classified community.  The biggest misunderstanding that dealers have about posting is that Craigslist simply doesn’t care that you are there… period.  The site deems itself a “community service” for individuals, not companies, so they don’t care about making it easy for you to post.

If you’re already using Craigslist, these guidelines will help you improve your listing strategy, and if you’re not using Craigslist, this list will help you drastically boost your sales. If you have any tips you’d like to share, please share them in the comments below.

Craigslist has been an incredible source of leads and revenue for car dealers, but doing business with the site hasn’t come without peril.  There are a multitude of posting issues: over-posting, posting too quickly, listings get flagged, accounts get banned, certain computers get blocked, entire dealerships get banned from posting… and the list goes on and on. The bottom line is that Craigslist was not created for commercialization, but instead as a community service – so they have absolutely no desire to cater to businesses using their website.

So how do you conduct regular business on Craigslist?  I’ve unpacked the top ten Frequently Asked Questions about Craigslist from our dealers to help you make Craigslist a successful part of your marketing efforts (and ideally, drastically increase your sales).

1. How come I can post from home, but not from my dealership?

Craigslist has either blocked your IP address or you MAC address.  An IP Address is a numerical label assigned to any network device (a computer or network router, for example) and is used for communication on the Internet.  Generally speaking, every computer inside your dealership network goes out to the Internet with the same external IP Address.  If your IP address has been blocked, then any computer using that IP address will be unable to post to Craigslist.

A MAC address is a unique identifier assigned to your computer for communication on a network.  If your MAC Address has been blocked, then that specific computer is banned from Craigslist.  The monitoring technology used by Craigslist can detect abuse and block either (or both) options.

2. I could post earlier today, but now I can’t post. Why?

Craigslist issues temporary bans on accounts without notice.  They don’t send you an email or call you, you’ll just suddenly wonder why you can’t post listings.  In many cases, this is brought on by over-posting or posting too frequently.

3. Why aren’t my listings showing up on Craigslist?

In most cases, Craigslist will take 15 to 20 minutes to add a new listing to the site.  If your listings don’t appear after 20 minutes, then something is going on.  They’ve probably placed a temporary ban on your account, but they continue to let you post on the site.  Our recommendation is to take a break from listing today and try again tomorrow.

4. I’ve been banned from Craigslist.  How can I continue listing on the site?

Assuming you have been banned in every way (IP Address, MAC Address, Craigslist account, and duplicate content), you will need to create a new Craigslist account with a new email address and then post from a different location (a different computer on a different network).

5. Can I post my cars directly to the site without a template?

Yes.  In fact, it is a good practice to vary your listings so you don’t get flagged for “duplicate listings”.  After logging in, simply click the “post to classifieds” link and follow the wizard.  It is a bit more work to copy and paste content and then upload photos, but it’s well worth the diversification of listing templates.

6. How can I post to multiple cities on Craigslist?

We get this question all the time from dealers, but even still, we do not recommend this strategy.  The best strategy is to post in your specific (or nearest) city and play within the policies of Craigslist.  If you want to try to beat the system and try multi-city posting, then you’ll need to use a unique email address for each account.  Make sure that each account is always tied to the specific email address associated with it.  You’ll also be better off posting to each city from different IP addresses.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Multi-city posting is the fastest way to get banned from Craigslist.  They DO record the location of your IP Address for each post, so eventually they will detect the over-posting.  It’s like playing a clam shell game – you might get lucky a few times, but in the end, you’ll lose.

7. Why are my listings getting flagged?

Several conditions can contribute to your listings getting flagged, but the two main contributors are most likely other community members flagging your listings (because they’re trying to keep companies off the “community” website) OR a competitor is probably flagging of your listings to reduce competiton.  Best practices to avoid flagged listings: do not post the same vehicle twice in less than 7 days, randomize your posting template, and don’t post 100% of your inventory every day.  Your best option is to post less than 15% of your inventory each day, with no more than 10 cars posted daily.

8. How does Craigslist know what city I’m in?

Whenever you post, Craiglist records your IP address.  Your IP address can provide the geolocation of your network.  Now that Craigslist knows your geolocation information, it can serve up the nearest city and know pretty accurately where you’re located.  Don’t believe me? Go to www.whatismyipaddress.com and see for yourself.

9. Who can I call at Craigslist to talk about my issues?

Nobody! Amazingly enough, there aren’t any service agents for you to speak with.  Earlier this year, I tried calling the phone number listed on their WHOIS information for craigslist.org.  After navigating the auto attendant for an hour, I finally got a billing person on the phone, who then sent me to “some guy” who told me exactly “we have less than 30 people working here and don’t have time for this phone call. –click.”  True story.

10.Is there a better time of day to post?

No one has reliable data to show that certain times of day are better to post.  Prior to the April 22, 2011 changes made by Craigslist, much of the monitoring of the site was manual or done by the community.  The theory was that posting earlier in the morning was advantageous, because most of the site police volunteers were on the west coast.  As of the update on April 22, we now believe that many of the monitoring and security measures have been automated, so posting at certain times to avoid manual detection is no longer relevant. Our recommendation is to diversify your listing times (morning, afternoon, and night).

I can sum up all of these issues with one question: “Why is it so difficult to work with Craigslist?”  The answer: Craigslist is an online classified community.  The biggest misunderstanding that dealers have about posting is that Craigslist simply doesn’t care that you are there… period.  The site deems itself a “community service” for individuals, not companies, so they don’t care about making it easy for you to post.

If you’re already using Craigslist, these guidelines will help you improve your listing strategy, and if you’re not using Craigslist, this list will help you drastically boost your sales. If you have any tips you’d like to share, please share them in the comments below.

When you’re writing content for the pages of your car dealer website, choosing words that appeal to your potential customers might seem like the most important thing to do. Instead of using words that tend to have a less than positive connotation, like “used cars”, most dealers opt for more attractive-sounding words like “pre-owned cars”. While writing content that appeals to your customers is important, it’s absolutely vital to write content that includes keywords that will help your site show up higher in search engines and bring you more visitors. After all, what’s the point of writing appealing content for an audience that doesn’t exist?

Keywords on your car dealer website play a huge role in how your site ranks in search results; the correct use of keywords can help to drive lots of traffic to your site from search engines. However, choosing keywords based on what you think your target audience searches for, or what you think “sounds better”, is the wrong approach to take. Your choice of keywords should always be backed by research.

With keyword analytics tools, like Google’s free and popularly used Keyword Tool, you can easily see how many times keywords are searched for and choose the ones that reach the most people in your target audience. As you can see in Image 1, “used cars” is searched for at a significantly higher rate than “preowned cars”. If you are a used car dealer, “used cars” would be the better keyword choice to optimize for.

The difference between the number of searches for these two keyphrases is typically the same for long-tail keywords that include “used cars” and “preowned cars”. As you can see in Image 2, “used cars dallas tx” is searched for more than “preowned cars dallas tx”, “used cars miami fl” is searched for more than “preowned cars miami fl”, and “used cars cleveland oh” is searched for more than “preowned cars cleveland oh”.

In fact, if you look at other keywords that are commonly used by car dealers, you would find differences between many similar keyphrases (as is shown in Image 3).

So, when you’re writing content for your website, remember – choosing the right keyword could lead to more visits to your website, which would produce more leads, and eventually result in more sales. The days of “just having a website” are long gone – competition for customers is fierce, especially in the down economy. You’ve got to be sure that your website performs well in the search engines if you want to beat out your competitors.

AutoRevo offers Search Engine Optimization services that cover all of this and more – SEO is a very time-consuming process, and we know that most dealers simply don’t have the time to learn how to do it or to dedicate the time to do it themselves. But, for those dealers out there who like to do it themselves, or who are interested in learning, we’ll be posting several SEO-related posts a month to help you beef up your SEO knowledge.

Leave us a comment below if there’s a specific question you’d like answered, or a topic you’d like for us to cover.

When you’re writing content for the pages of your car dealer website, choosing words that appeal to your potential customers might seem like the most important thing to do. Instead of using words that tend to have a less than positive connotation, like “used cars”, most dealers opt for more attractive-sounding words like “pre-owned cars”. While writing content that appeals to your customers is important, it’s absolutely vital to write content that includes keywords that will help your site show up higher in search engines and bring you more visitors. After all, what’s the point of writing appealing content for an audience that doesn’t exist?

Keywords on your car dealer website play a huge role in how your site ranks in search results; the correct use of keywords can help to drive lots of traffic to your site from search engines. However, choosing keywords based on what you think your target audience searches for, or what you think “sounds better”, is the wrong approach to take. Your choice of keywords should always be backed by research.

With keyword analytics tools, like Google’s free and popularly used Keyword Tool, you can easily see how many times keywords are searched for and choose the ones that reach the most people in your target audience. As you can see in Image 1, “used cars” is searched for at a significantly higher rate than “preowned cars”. If you are a used car dealer, “used cars” would be the better keyword choice to optimize for.

The difference between the number of searches for these two keyphrases is typically the same for long-tail keywords that include “used cars” and “preowned cars”. As you can see in Image 2, “used cars dallas tx” is searched for more than “preowned cars dallas tx”, “used cars miami fl” is searched for more than “preowned cars miami fl”, and “used cars cleveland oh” is searched for more than “preowned cars cleveland oh”.

In fact, if you look at other keywords that are commonly used by car dealers, you would find differences between many similar keyphrases (as is shown in Image 3).

So, when you’re writing content for your website, remember – choosing the right keyword could lead to more visits to your website, which would produce more leads, and eventually result in more sales. The days of “just having a website” are long gone – competition for customers is fierce, especially in the down economy. You’ve got to be sure that your website performs well in the search engines if you want to beat out your competitors.

AutoRevo offers Search Engine Optimization services that cover all of this and more – SEO is a very time-consuming process, and we know that most dealers simply don’t have the time to learn how to do it or to dedicate the time to do it themselves. But, for those dealers out there who like to do it themselves, or who are interested in learning, we’ll be posting several SEO-related posts a month to help you beef up your SEO knowledge.

Leave us a comment below if there’s a specific question you’d like answered, or a topic you’d like for us to cover.

There was a big splash in the automotive news world last week when we saw the first auto dealership Groupon offer. Twitter and blogs were all abuzz with industry experts, vendors, and dealers debating the deal, and offering opinions about whether it would work or not.  Now the deal has expired, and the minimum number of Groupon vouchers weren’t purchased, so the deal is null and void.

Of course, everyone is now jumping on the “here’s why it didn’t work” bandwagon… There’s a great post by Arnold Tijerina over at dealer-magazine.com called “Why the first car dealership Groupon failed” – give it a read, he’s got a few great points…

To summarize, he says the deal didn’t have value for the customer because customers EXPECT to negotiate with the dealer and bring the price down by at least $500 – so why would a Groupon be necessary?  Also, the dealer probably didn’t handle the Groupon correctly – as potential buyers were leaving comments debating the worth of the deal, the GM left a few comments of his own to try to prove to people how valuable the deal was:

VALUE GUARANTEE OFFER!!!!
In the unlikely event that we are unable to come to an agreement on a vehicle purchase/lease, for whatever reason, I will honor your voucher toward $199.00 in our service, parts or body shop departments. Purchase accessories, have routine maintenance done or have those annoying dings, dents and scratches repaired.

Seriously? If you don’t find a car, you can get $199 in credit in our service department… for the $199 coupon?  That’s not a deal, that’s just pre-paying for services… So instead of proving worth, he’s devaluing his own deal. And this comment makes even less sense:

William P visited our store yesterday. He selected and test drove the vehicle he was interested in. He worked out all of the pricing details with our sales staff until he was satisfied with the pricing. He THEN AND ONLY THEN explained he had purchased the Groupon voucher but needed a vehicle immediately. We reduced his amount due by $500.00 and honored the voucher in order to accommodate a customer. He took delivery today. We’re still confident that the sales requirement will be met.

He posted this before the minimum number of vouchers were purchased, and before the time limit had expired… so he’s working against his own deal by showing people that the coupon isn’t even necessary!

Those are great points… but here’s the real reason I think the Groupon deal failed:

People buy Groupon deals to save money and get a deal.

The way this deal was structured, you’re buying a $200 Groupon to save $500 on a vehicle purchase… So even if you bought a used car worth $6,000 (about the lowest priced vehicle they have in stock), you only end up saving $300 – only about 3%!!! Most Groupon deals tend to be at least 50% off the purchase price of whatever the voucher is for, and that’s all you have to pay.  In this case, your $200 Groupon is also a commitment to spend at least $6000 more… so it’s nowhere near the easy impulse buy like most Groupon vouchers.

Plus, you’re committing to buying a car from that specific dealership. So now, the dealership is targeting all Groupon users in the Detroit area who are also going to buy a car in the next year (and realistically, the only people who’d buy the Groupon are people who are already looking to buy a car now). That’s probably a pretty small slice of the Groupon user pie in Detroit… and since the Groupon buyer then HAS to buy from this specific dealership, the slice gets even smaller…

That’s why the Groupon deal didn’t work – it wasn’t an easy “wow, what a deal!” impulse buy – when all the successful Groupon deals give you huge discounts, saving such a tiny percentage on a high-dollar purchase just wasn’t valuable.

There was a big splash in the automotive news world last week when we saw the first auto dealership Groupon offer. Twitter and blogs were all abuzz with industry experts, vendors, and dealers debating the deal, and offering opinions about whether it would work or not.  Now the deal has expired, and the minimum number of Groupon vouchers weren’t purchased, so the deal is null and void.

Of course, everyone is now jumping on the “here’s why it didn’t work” bandwagon… There’s a great post by Arnold Tijerina over at dealer-magazine.com called “Why the first car dealership Groupon failed” – give it a read, he’s got a few great points…

To summarize, he says the deal didn’t have value for the customer because customers EXPECT to negotiate with the dealer and bring the price down by at least $500 – so why would a Groupon be necessary?  Also, the dealer probably didn’t handle the Groupon correctly – as potential buyers were leaving comments debating the worth of the deal, the GM left a few comments of his own to try to prove to people how valuable the deal was:

VALUE GUARANTEE OFFER!!!!
In the unlikely event that we are unable to come to an agreement on a vehicle purchase/lease, for whatever reason, I will honor your voucher toward $199.00 in our service, parts or body shop departments. Purchase accessories, have routine maintenance done or have those annoying dings, dents and scratches repaired.

Seriously? If you don’t find a car, you can get $199 in credit in our service department… for the $199 coupon?  That’s not a deal, that’s just pre-paying for services… So instead of proving worth, he’s devaluing his own deal. And this comment makes even less sense:

William P visited our store yesterday. He selected and test drove the vehicle he was interested in. He worked out all of the pricing details with our sales staff until he was satisfied with the pricing. He THEN AND ONLY THEN explained he had purchased the Groupon voucher but needed a vehicle immediately. We reduced his amount due by $500.00 and honored the voucher in order to accommodate a customer. He took delivery today. We’re still confident that the sales requirement will be met.

He posted this before the minimum number of vouchers were purchased, and before the time limit had expired… so he’s working against his own deal by showing people that the coupon isn’t even necessary!

Those are great points… but here’s the real reason I think the Groupon deal failed:

People buy Groupon deals to save money and get a deal.

The way this deal was structured, you’re buying a $200 Groupon to save $500 on a vehicle purchase… So even if you bought a used car worth $6,000 (about the lowest priced vehicle they have in stock), you only end up saving $300 – only about 3%!!! Most Groupon deals tend to be at least 50% off the purchase price of whatever the voucher is for, and that’s all you have to pay.  In this case, your $200 Groupon is also a commitment to spend at least $6000 more… so it’s nowhere near the easy impulse buy like most Groupon vouchers.

Plus, you’re committing to buying a car from that specific dealership. So now, the dealership is targeting all Groupon users in the Detroit area who are also going to buy a car in the next year (and realistically, the only people who’d buy the Groupon are people who are already looking to buy a car now). That’s probably a pretty small slice of the Groupon user pie in Detroit… and since the Groupon buyer then HAS to buy from this specific dealership, the slice gets even smaller…

That’s why the Groupon deal didn’t work – it wasn’t an easy “wow, what a deal!” impulse buy – when all the successful Groupon deals give you huge discounts, saving such a tiny percentage on a high-dollar purchase just wasn’t valuable.

The three largest search engines, Google, Yahoo, and Bing, all outline ways for web pages to rank well in their search results; however, they do not disclose the algorithms they use to rank web pages. As a result, the degree of influence that different factors have on rankings is much contested by SEO experts.

In a recent study conducted by SEOmoz, the importance of several on-page factors were rated by 72 SEO experts and then ranked based on the level of consensus/contention. The following ranking of factors is derived from this report, listed in descending order of importance. Below each factor, an explanation of its core concepts is provided.

1. Keyword use anywhere in the title tag.
   A keyword or key phrase is a word or phrase that a user enters into a search engine. A title tag is the meta tag of web pages that determines what text appears at the top of Internet browsers.
   

   EXAMPLE: “Lone Star Cars – Used Cars and Used Trucks in Dallas, Texas”

2. Keyword use as the first word(s) of the title tag
   According to the experts’ ratings, it is important for the first keyword(s) in your title tag to be keyword(s) that you would like your web page to show up for in search results.
   

   EXAMPLE: “Used Cars and Used Trucks in Dallas, Texas – Lone Star Cars”

3. Keyword use in the root domain name (e.g. keyword.com)
   A Root Domain is the starting point of the top level domain structure, for example, www.keywordHere.com.
   

   EXAMPLE: “www.trucksintexas.com”

4. Keyword use anywhere in the H1 headline tag
   A heading briefly describes the subject of the section it introduces. Heading elements go from H1 to H6, with the lower numbered headings (ex: H1) being considered most important.
   

   EXAMPLE: “Lone Star Cars – Your Source For Used Cars”

5. Keyword use in internal link anchor text on the page
   An internal link – a link from one website pointing to another web page on the same site. Anchor Text is the actual clickable text of a link. Search engines use anchor text to indicate the relevancy of the referring site and of the link to the content on the landing page.
   

   EXAMPLE: “learn more about our extended warranty”

6. Keyword use in external link anchor text on the page
   An external link (a.k.a. back link) is any link into a page or site from any other website.
   

   EXAMPLE: another website links to your site with “Used cars in Dallas”

7. Keyword use as the first word(s) in the H1 tag
   According to the experts, it is important for the first keyword(s) in your H1 tag to be your targeted keyword(s) for the page.
   

   EXAMPLE: “Used Cars Like You’ve Never Seen Before”

8. Keyword use in the first 50-100 words in HTML on the page
   According to the experts, it is important for keyword(s) you’re targeting be located in the top section of your page’s body text. You don’t want to be “spammy” and just list a bunch of keywords – your text needs to read naturally, but you need to be sure you’re using your keyword in the first 50-100 words.  
    
9. Keyword use in the page name URL
   Page name URL is the name of the web page URL. It is used to locate a specific page on a domain.
   

   EXAMPLE: “www.lonestarcars.com/financing”

10. Keyword use in image alt text
    An alt tag is the HTML text that appears when an image doesn’t load, or when images are turned off. Alt text is useful in SEO because it can include keywords that a search engine looks for in response to a query.
    

    EXAMPLE: “Lone Star Cars is Dallas’ premier used car dealer”

The best news of the day – AutoRevo’s system allows you to have control over every single one of these ranking factors.

Take some time to go through your dealer website and see how your current site content matches up to these ten ranking factors. It might take a few days, but it will be worth the effort to go through your site and update your custom pages to adhere to these guidelines. Not only will your site be more user-friendly and informative, it will rank better in the search engines.

The three largest search engines, Google, Yahoo, and Bing, all outline ways for web pages to rank well in their search results; however, they do not disclose the algorithms they use to rank web pages. As a result, the degree of influence that different factors have on rankings is much contested by SEO experts.

In a recent study conducted by SEOmoz, the importance of several on-page factors were rated by 72 SEO experts and then ranked based on the level of consensus/contention. The following ranking of factors is derived from this report, listed in descending order of importance. Below each factor, an explanation of its core concepts is provided.

1. Keyword use anywhere in the title tag.
   A keyword or key phrase is a word or phrase that a user enters into a search engine. A title tag is the meta tag of web pages that determines what text appears at the top of Internet browsers.
   

   EXAMPLE: “Lone Star Cars – Used Cars and Used Trucks in Dallas, Texas”

2. Keyword use as the first word(s) of the title tag
   According to the experts’ ratings, it is important for the first keyword(s) in your title tag to be keyword(s) that you would like your web page to show up for in search results.
   

   EXAMPLE: “Used Cars and Used Trucks in Dallas, Texas – Lone Star Cars”

3. Keyword use in the root domain name (e.g. keyword.com)
   A Root Domain is the starting point of the top level domain structure, for example, www.keywordHere.com.
   

   EXAMPLE: “www.trucksintexas.com”

4. Keyword use anywhere in the H1 headline tag
   A heading briefly describes the subject of the section it introduces. Heading elements go from H1 to H6, with the lower numbered headings (ex: H1) being considered most important.
   

   EXAMPLE: “Lone Star Cars – Your Source For Used Cars”

5. Keyword use in internal link anchor text on the page
   An internal link – a link from one website pointing to another web page on the same site. Anchor Text is the actual clickable text of a link. Search engines use anchor text to indicate the relevancy of the referring site and of the link to the content on the landing page.
   

   EXAMPLE: “learn more about our extended warranty”

6. Keyword use in external link anchor text on the page
   An external link (a.k.a. back link) is any link into a page or site from any other website.
   

   EXAMPLE: another website links to your site with “Used cars in Dallas”

7. Keyword use as the first word(s) in the H1 tag
   According to the experts, it is important for the first keyword(s) in your H1 tag to be your targeted keyword(s) for the page.
   

   EXAMPLE: “Used Cars Like You’ve Never Seen Before”

8. Keyword use in the first 50-100 words in HTML on the page
   According to the experts, it is important for keyword(s) you’re targeting be located in the top section of your page’s body text. You don’t want to be “spammy” and just list a bunch of keywords – your text needs to read naturally, but you need to be sure you’re using your keyword in the first 50-100 words.  
    
9. Keyword use in the page name URL
   Page name URL is the name of the web page URL. It is used to locate a specific page on a domain.
   

   EXAMPLE: “www.lonestarcars.com/financing”

10. Keyword use in image alt text
    An alt tag is the HTML text that appears when an image doesn’t load, or when images are turned off. Alt text is useful in SEO because it can include keywords that a search engine looks for in response to a query.
    

    EXAMPLE: “Lone Star Cars is Dallas’ premier used car dealer”

The best news of the day – AutoRevo’s system allows you to have control over every single one of these ranking factors.

Take some time to go through your dealer website and see how your current site content matches up to these ten ranking factors. It might take a few days, but it will be worth the effort to go through your site and update your custom pages to adhere to these guidelines. Not only will your site be more user-friendly and informative, it will rank better in the search engines.

Other vendors think we're crazy for giving this info away for free... but we think it's basic information that every dealer should know.

The US auto dealer market is fiercely competitive... so we've put this checklist together to help your dealership succeed! Our free Internet Marketing Checklist is full of tips and action items that you can use to help make yourself a better digital marketer. It's clearly written and easy to follow, so you can implement the tips without having to spend a ton of time on them. It's broken up into several sections, so you can implement the different sections as time allows.

Here's what's inside:

• On-page Search Engine Optimization (SEO) for your dealer website - We'll walk you through several elements that you can update yourself (without relying on your provider to make the changes) that can have a positive effect on your rankings in the search engines.
• Mobile Dealer Website - 88% of US mobile phone users are more likely to buy from a dealer who has a mobile website. We'll walk you through the 7 important factors that your mobile website MUST have to be competitive in the mobile website arena.
• Local Search - Local results are becoming increasingly important in the search engine results pages. We'll show you how to claim your Google Places listing and then optimize it so your listing will perform better than your competitors down the street.
• Website Video - Video has become vital for auto dealer websites. We'll show you how to take advantage of video if you're not using it, and how to get an extra boost from video if you've already got it on your site.
• Social Media - We give you a checklist that shows how to use Facebook and Twitter correctly (most dealers are doing it wrong), and we'll show you how to take advantage of the growing power of Foursquare. We also provide tips on how to track your various social media properties with one easy-to-use free application.
• QR Codes - We'll walk you through the steps for creating trackable QR codes that you can use to digitize all non-digital media. Now, you'll be able to track actual conversions from newspaper ads and any other print media your dealership uses.
• Reporting and Pricing - Amazingly enough, there are still a ton of dealers out there who are using "gut feelings" to price their vehicles or to figure out what to buy at auction. We show you how to use pricing tools to pick what really works for your dealership, and how to stay on top of your prices using reports and analytics so you'll turn vehicles faster, for higher profits.

Even if you think you're ahead of the game and your dealership's Internet marketing efforts are blowing your competition away, you should download the checklist - you'll be sure to find a few tips you didn't know about.

Other vendors think we're crazy for giving this info away for free... but we think it's basic information that every dealer should know.

The US auto dealer market is fiercely competitive... so we've put this checklist together to help your dealership succeed! Our free Internet Marketing Checklist is full of tips and action items that you can use to help make yourself a better digital marketer. It's clearly written and easy to follow, so you can implement the tips without having to spend a ton of time on them. It's broken up into several sections, so you can implement the different sections as time allows.

Here's what's inside:

• On-page Search Engine Optimization (SEO) for your dealer website - We'll walk you through several elements that you can update yourself (without relying on your provider to make the changes) that can have a positive effect on your rankings in the search engines.
• Mobile Dealer Website - 88% of US mobile phone users are more likely to buy from a dealer who has a mobile website. We'll walk you through the 7 important factors that your mobile website MUST have to be competitive in the mobile website arena.
• Local Search - Local results are becoming increasingly important in the search engine results pages. We'll show you how to claim your Google Places listing and then optimize it so your listing will perform better than your competitors down the street.
• Website Video - Video has become vital for auto dealer websites. We'll show you how to take advantage of video if you're not using it, and how to get an extra boost from video if you've already got it on your site.
• Social Media - We give you a checklist that shows how to use Facebook and Twitter correctly (most dealers are doing it wrong), and we'll show you how to take advantage of the growing power of Foursquare. We also provide tips on how to track your various social media properties with one easy-to-use free application.
• QR Codes - We'll walk you through the steps for creating trackable QR codes that you can use to digitize all non-digital media. Now, you'll be able to track actual conversions from newspaper ads and any other print media your dealership uses.
• Reporting and Pricing - Amazingly enough, there are still a ton of dealers out there who are using "gut feelings" to price their vehicles or to figure out what to buy at auction. We show you how to use pricing tools to pick what really works for your dealership, and how to stay on top of your prices using reports and analytics so you'll turn vehicles faster, for higher profits.

Even if you think you're ahead of the game and your dealership's Internet marketing efforts are blowing your competition away, you should download the checklist - you'll be sure to find a few tips you didn't know about.